The latest moves targeting the two-month-old protest movement against corporate greed and inequality came days after announced eviction deadlines, and did not bring the running clashes and tear gas that have marked previous raids. Read the full article »»»»

Police arrested 24 protesters for trespassing at a Citibank branch, a New York Police Department spokesman said.

Citibank has always been a bit of a fumbling behemoth, barely – with bailout assistance from U.S. tax payers – scraping through the global financial crisis in tact, it now face an entirely new wave of trouble. Days after Citibank CEO Vikram Pandit talked about his sympathies with Occupy Wall Street and his willingness to engage with protesters. A Citibank branch in New York has locked the doors of their branch and arrested a group of Citibank account holders who wished to to close their accounts. It’s clear that Citibank are terrified that a few accounts closing will escalate to a run on the bank. “It would only take a small percentage of account holders to prove that Citibank is an economic hologram and like much of the financial sector, is desperately hiding how weak it is. The 99% are waking up and realise they’ve been duped, fleeced,conned and bullied for far too long” said Jeremy Bloom. “NOT even in the dark dark days of the 1930s great depression – when there was actual panic – did we see anything this stupid” Here’s how it went down at the Citibank branch at 555 La Guardia Place in New York. The demonstrators – all Citibank customers – were asked to leave, and when they tried to comply Citibank’s security locked them in and wouldn’t let them leave! 24 were arrested. Clearly nothing is ever this simple!? Read the full article »»»»

A quick roundup via words and pictures of the wonderfilled world of passive revolution . . .

15 October 2011: Hundreds of protesters are celebrating after New York City postponed the evacuation of the park at the epicentre of weeks of anti-Wall Street demonstrations.

The owners of the private square suspended their request for the city to evacuate it for routine cleaning on Friday (local time) and said they believed they could reach an agreement with the protesters. No reason was given for the delay, but it averted what many feared could have sparked a showdown between authorities and protesters. Protesters celebrated the postponement at the publicly accessible park, where the mood was festive :: Read the full article »»»»

UPDATE OCTOBER 5: At least 5,000 protesters of the Occupy Wall Street movement took to the streets of New York’s financial district, angry that their taxes were used to prop up banks in the 2008 financial crisis. They heard speeches decrying that wealth is concentrated in the hands of some, while others lose their jobs or have their houses repossessed. After their march, the protesters returned to the downtown park where they have been camped out for more than two weeks, but what had been a festive atmosphere turned sour. Scuffles broke out when some of the activists tried to move outside the permitted protest zone.A dozen people were arrested in New York, including one who was charged with assault on a police officer who was knocked from his scooter, according to police spokesman Paul Browne. Others who were arrested had tried to break through a police barricade, Mr Browne said.

One police officer fired pepper spray as a “group of demonstrators charged a line of officers” standing at the intersection of Wall Street and Broadway, he said. The movement has surged in a matter of weeks from a ragged group in downtown Manhattan to protesters of all ages demonstrating from Seattle to Tampa. Filmmaker Michael Moore was among the crowd in New York, shaking hands and posing for pictures.

“Everywhere you go in this country, you see the Occupy Wall Street movement,” said Moore. “In the first days, people were putting it down, saying these are a bunch of hippies.

“But the average American who has lost health care, who is going to lose his job, whose home is in foreclosure can relate to this,” he said.

OCTOBER 3: Around 400 700 anti-Wall Street protesters have been arrested after blocking traffic lanes on the Brooklyn Bridge and attempting an unauthorised march across the span, police and witnesses said. On the second week of protests by the Occupy Wall Street movement, a large group of marchers broke off from others on the bridge’s pedestrian walkway and headed across the Brooklyn-bound lanes.

“Approximately 400 were arrested on the Brooklyn Bridge late this afternoon after multiple warnings by police were given to protesters to stay on the pedestrian walkway,” a police spokesman said.

“Some complied and took the walkway without being arrested.

“Others locked arms and proceeded on the Brooklyn-bound vehicular roadway. The latter were arrested.”

Both the walkway and Brooklyn-bound car lanes were shut to traffic, snarling traffic, but it was later re-opened by police. Witnesses described a chaotic scene on the famous suspension bridge as a sea of police officers surrounded the protesters using orange mesh netting. Some protesters tried to get away as officers started handcuffing members of the group. Dozens of protesters were seen handcuffed and sitting on the span as three buses were called in to take them away, witnesses and organisers said.

The march started about 3:30pm on Saturday (local time) from the protesters’ camp in Zuccotti Park, in downtown Manhattan near the former World Trade Centre. Members of the group have vowed to stay at the park through the winter. In addition to what they view as excessive force and unfair treatment of minorities, including Muslims, the movement is also protesting against home foreclosures, high unemployment and the 2008 bailouts.

Celebrity support

Filmmaker Michael Moore and actress Susan Sarandon have stopped by the protesters’ camp, which is plastered with posters with anti-Wall Street slogans and has a kitchen and library, to offer their support. On Friday evening, more than 1,000 demonstrators, including representatives of labour organisations, held a peaceful march to police headquarters a few blocks north of City Hall to protest what they said was a heavy-handed police response the previous week. No arrests were reported.

A week ago, police arrested about 80 members of Occupy Wall Street near the Union Square shopping district as the marchers swarmed onto oncoming traffic.

A police commander doused a handful of women with pepper spray in an incident captured on video and spread via the internet, galvanising the loosely-organised protest movement.

The group has gained support among some union members. The United Federation of Teachers and the Transport Workers Union Local 100, which has 38,000 members, are among those pledging solidarity.

The unions could provide important organisational and financial support for the largely leaderless movement.

Similar protests are sprouting in other cities, including Boston, Chicago and San Francisco.